Au Revoir, Café

I love coffee. I have sipped this fragrant, tasty brew since I was six or so. Of course, it was the thin and watery coffee as prepared by my Norwegian grandmother, so that almost doesn't count. I've always preferred my coffee black but had come to enjoy an iced mocha latte during warmer weather. Have I told you this next part? I don't think so. I could be wrong. A little over two years ago I began to experience heartburn in the late morning to early afternoon time range. I suspected coffee on the early morning empty stomach to be the culprit so I experimented for a few days drinking tea in the morning instead. Heartburn gone! I continued with the ritual of tea as the first beverage of the day but would occasionally make a pot of coffee in the afternoon and enjoy a cup or two. It seemed that later on in the day I could tolerate it quite nicely. Then last week I made some coffee in the afternoon to accompany some cookies and found myself feeling absolutely awful. Nauseated, over-caffeinated, and just generally crappy. It took nearly twenty-four hours to feel right again. First I wanted to blame it on Covid-19. Food doesn't quite smell and taste right to me yet even though I am mostly recovered. I do know I never want to feel that awful again if the only thing I have to do is give up coffee. Forever. I might give a cup of coffee another chance in a few months when I'm certain I'm all better. But I realize I have been working through a sort of grief these last few days over the possibility of never drinking coffee again. Maybe it's the aging process, maybe it's just the Covid-19 hangover. Whatever it turns out to be, I'll be sticking with tea for now. Sigh.